


Mending Family

by HiddenViolet



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Case Fic, Happy Ending, M/M, little bit of Christmas, little bit of romance, plot heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21622900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenViolet/pseuds/HiddenViolet
Summary: Jim and Blair are tasked with solving a murder just before Christmas, more than a killer is on the line though.
Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg
Comments: 21
Kudos: 23
Collections: 2019 'The Sentinel Secret Santa' - Gift Exchange





	Mending Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unbelievable2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unbelievable2/gifts).



> So this is my Secret Santa submission. It is ridiculously long and I am very proud of it.

“Ellison! Sandburg! My office right now!” Simon’s words echoed through the room. The two men in question made their way towards the office in the back.

“Hey Simon, what’s up?” Blair settled in a chair in front of the desk. Jim, on the other hand, settled on the corner of Simon’s desk, still holding his Styrofoam cup of coffee.

“A high profile, murder. A former senator strangled to death in his own home. Here’s the file. The chief and the commissioner want the two of you in on this because it’s very public. Reporters and newspapers are climbing all over it. And since the two of you are our finest, at least according to them, we need you to be on this case. Look over the file and then head over to the scene. I hate to do this to you, but you need to be appearing at the scene on camera. That way we can get ahead of the media circus. Understand?”

Jim gave an aggravated sigh and looked away for a second. “I hate those stupid awards. I wish we’d never gotten them. They just make things so damn complicated.”

“Well, it’s too late to do anything about it now. We just have to deal with it. You should’ve thought of that before winning them.”

“Yeah what you’re saying is I have to deal with it. You use your height, or lack thereof, to hide behind me. Most of those photos they can’t even see your face! Half of them all that’s visible is your jacket.”

“Hey man, there are upsides to being on the low side. At least you don’t have to get out a stool to reach the top shelf.”

“If I did, I’d put it back where it belongs.”

“Hey! Shut up and get out of my office. Don’t you have someplace to be, like solving a murder?” Simon raised his eyebrows at the two of them. He then made a shooing motion with his hands. Blair picked up the file while Jim opened up the door and the two of them made their way out of the office while bickering the whole way.

Simon shook his head and poured himself another cup of coffee. He took the time to savor the flavor for a minute. A brand his cousin sent him. Something from Africa. It was good and he was going to enjoy the quiet.

“Hey, captain.” Rafé stuck his head in the door and Simon sighed and set the cup down. It would have to wait.

The Sentinel

Simon hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that the media were all over the crime scene. At every side of the taped off area, reporters were climbing over each other in an attempt to get the photograph. When Jim and Blair pulled up though they left the started swarming the vehicle. Several uniformed officers pushed away the herd of people and the detectives climbed out.

They were escorted through the front door, the officers holding off the sharks. Both Blair and Jim snapped on a set of gloves to make sure they didn’t contaminate any of the evidence. Cameras were flashing and people were yelling questions, causing a massive ruckus. It was distracting even for regular people.

“Hey man, turn down those dials. Hearing, sight and smell. Those idiots will overload you otherwise.” Blair’s words soothed Jim and he took a deep breath. He carefully turned each of the dials down lower than normal, several notches below where he’d been, and then sighed in relief. It never failed to surprise Jim how effective his partner was on his overall general health and how much better he was at his job with Blair there.

“Thanks, chief. I never seem to remember to do that.”

“Understandable, your mind’s on other things. Like that.” They came to the body and it wasn’t pretty. The senator had been a large man and he hadn’t died well. There was a look of horror across his heavy, bloated features and the wound disfigured him. It was jagged and bloody, having been done by something not designed as a murder weapon.

Around the wound were signs of strangulation that left his large throat purple and repugnant. He’d been getting ready for bed as he was in his pajamas with a robe over top of them. The pajamas were heavily stained with blood, ruined completely. Which was a shame as they looked expensive.

Jim evaluate the scene for a moment and then turned to one of the Forensic people. “Did you guys find the murder weapon?” They shook their heads in the negative and Jim frowned in contemplation.

“You got something, Jim?” Blair placed his hand on Jim’s elbow.

“I don’t know. A smell, I think. It’s hard to tell.”

“Well, turn down the other senses, turn up smell and focus only on it. See if you can trace it back to where it’s coming from.”

Jim sniffed once and then closed his eyes. He focused on the scent and began making his way towards the stairs. He paused at the bottom of them for a moment and then began climbing the stairs. He made his way to the top where he paused again and then turned right. He walked towards one of the bedrooms, the master bedroom to be exact. He entered the room and made his way to where a jewelry box sat on a vanity table.

He opened the box and picked up a neatly coiled piece of wire. On the wire and the surrounding jewelry box were bloodstains. He turned and showed it to his partner. Blair looked surprised, normally it wasn’t quite that easy to find the murder weapon when it wasn’t with the body.

“I think that I found the murder weapon. Hand me one of those evidence bags, would you?”

Blair did as he was asked and watched as it was placed in the bag. The two of them went back downstairs and Jim handed the evidence bag to one of the officers who was collecting evidence.

“Make sure this is checked to see if the blood matches the victim and if there are any prints on it. I’m pretty sure it’s the murder weapon but we want to be sure. The last thing we need is finding out late that it isn’t. Come on Chief, let’s head back to the precinct and start looking into his enemies. We are going to need to find who did this fast. Don’t want this to be the holiday media circus any more than it already is.”

“Alright.”

The Sentinel

The station was a bit crowded; some large bust having gone down that day. However, they were able to make their way through the crowd to Major Crimes. Once they got back to their desks, they each began the tedious process of investigative work.

Alibis needed to be checked, motives assessed, and information compiled. It took a fair amount of time and once they had gotten through the parts, they could the coroner was ready with his report.

“Detectives.”

“Dr. Hanal. What do you have for us today?” Jim asked impatiently.

“Your victim bled to death from severing of the right carotid artery. It only took a few minutes before he was dead. He was dead for approximately 4 hours when we got to the crime scene. I was able to match both the blood on the wire and the edge of the wire to the wound. It is the murder weapon.”

“Thanks, doc. Is there anything else?”

“Yeah, actually there is. We did a full workup and he had a substantial amount of alcohol in his system. We looked at his fingers for signs of a struggle, but we couldn’t find anything. It is most likely that he knew his attacker and that it happened very quickly. He was killed from behind. The downward arc of the wound suggests that it was by someone who was quite a bit shorter than him.”

“That’s most of the world. The man was more than 6 feet tall.”

“Can’t help you more than that. To be honest, because it was a wire there’s a chance that it could’ve been by someone who was the same height but pulled down. Tough to say with this kind of thing.”

“Thanks, doc. Come on Chief. We have some more work to do and I want to catch Simon up on what’s happening.”

Blair and Jim went back to Major Crimes. An inquiry with Rhonda showed that he’d already gone home. It was his day with Daryl, and he didn’t want to miss it. Jim and Blair took that as their cue and headed home themselves. This murder would keep.

The Sentinel

“No dad, I don’t know if we’ll make your company Christmas party…because we have a murder. Yes, we’re going to try and make the family one. I already told you that…Yes, of course, I’m bringing Blair…No his mother isn’t going to come. She’s at a retreat in Iceland…Yes, I’ll keep you updated…uh-huh, yup, alright, goodbye.” Jim set the phone down and sighed loudly. Blair shot him an amused look.

“Having problems?”

“He just doesn’t seem to understand the words ‘murder’ and ‘job’. He’s insisting that we have to be at his company party. I just want to skip the damn thing. Stuffy suits and making conversation with people you either don’t know or don’t like just isn’t my kind of party. I don’t mind going to the family one, but I hate the corporate.”

Blair smiled indulgently and reached up to pull Jim towards him. He kissed him gently on the lips and they stayed there for a moment. Jim pulled back from him and sat back further on the couch.

“Are you using kissing to distract me? Because that just isn’t fair. You play dirty Dr. Sandburg.”

“Well, you have to know how to play the game in my field. Can’t let someone have the upper hand in this kind of thing. I think we should at least make the effort to try and go to both parties. If work gets in the way, we can make the decision not to go without having any investment in it. But one of the best ways you can rebuild your relationship with your father is by showing him you’re willing to try. Which means that you may have to do things that you find unsavory or don’t want to do.”

“Why do you have to be so logical all the time Blair?”

Blair smiled at him and kissed him again.

“That’s just my job in life. Now come on. I am starving. I say we try out that new Thai place that delivers. I heard that they have amazing food and that way we can look over a few more things before bed. There’s something about those murders, that’s niggling at me and I can’t tell what. Something about the way the body was or what happened with it. I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

The Sentinel

“So, you think the wife was behind the murder?” Simon chomped on a cigar and looked at them skeptically. “It takes a lot of strength to strangle someone. Especially only using something like a guitar chord. Are you sure she’d have had the strength to do so? A lot of men don’t even have that kind of strength.”

“I know it sounds a bit out there, but the truth of the matter is that the murder weapon was in her jewelry box. It had her fingerprints on it, she knew where he kept his guitar and she’d have had ample opportunity. She had the means and opportunity. More than that he wasn’t strangled, the cord cut his throat. Most people aren’t even aware of how much strength it takes to strangle someone. She might’ve started with strangling and accidentally killed him by cutting his throat.”

“Yes, but what’s the motive? I want more evidence before we take this to the DA. I want to place her at the scene of the crime. Or at the very least prove that she could’ve been at the scene of the crime. You guys are making good progress on this case and I hate to add pressure, but the media is getting worse. We need to get on top of this and fast. See if you can go to her and get a confession out of her.”

Jim and Blair nodded and made their way out of the office. The precinct was beginning to look very festive. There were decorations all over, candy canes on every desk, and ideas for presents being swapped constantly.

Jim had nothing against Christmas in a general sense. He was all for something that brought people happiness and allowed families an excuse to see each other. However, until Blair had moved in with him, he’d never known a decent Christmas. His family at home had been cold and uncaring. When he was in the Army he was often stationed someplace or was just on base in the barracks. Not exactly Home and Gardens. Then when he was a police officer, he had either been alone or desperately wanting to be alone. Caroline had never been a huge fan of Christmas, so they hadn’t really celebrated.

Blair, on the other hand, loved Christmas. He and his mom weren’t practicing Jews. They didn’t observe any of the traditional holidays usually, although occasionally if his mom had made friends, they’d attend Temple. However, they almost always celebrated Christmas. The commercialism bothered his mom a bit, but Naomi felt it was the spirit that truly made it a Christmas and took every chance to try to get people in the mood.

They’d been in some amazing places for Christmas over the years. Morocco, Spain, Ireland and even the Arctic Circle one year. Therefore, he loved Christmas and he wanted to celebrate it as much as possible. Which was honestly part of the reason he was pushing Jim to go to both parties. That and he had never been to a super fancy expensive Christmas party. He was curious as to what it’d be like. His mom, on the other hand, was in Iceland enjoying the local culture and the healing powers of the hot springs. She didn’t feel quite so bad now that he had people to spend it with.

The two of them wandered back into the bullpen where they caught Joel finishing up a little bit of paperwork.

“Hey man, where is everyone. I know it’s the holidays, but you think that someone would be in here trying to solve their cases.” Blair punctuated his words with an affectionate slap on the back.

“Megan went home to visit her family in Australia. She finally just bit the bullet and bought the plane ticket. H and Rafe are out trying to get their cases finished up as quickly as possible. We all are. Shame that the senator was killed so close to Christmas. You guys are going to be buried.”

“I think we have it pretty well in hand. Making good progress. Hopefully, it doesn’t take forever. Just need to power through it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll be cut and dry.” Jim said while refilling his coffee cup from the pot. It might be practically toxic, but police coffee would keep anyone awake.

Joel gave an unbelieving snort, “Yeah right. You guys never get the easy ones. They always have some complicated part that takes forever to untangle. Some twist that takes forever to see. Somebody attempting to kill you and leaving one or both of you injured and/or on the verge of death.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Joel. Are you finishing up your and Megan’s case?”

“Yeah, we were able to get the actually investigating out of the way before she left. However, that means that there’s all the paperwork that accompanies it. Then I am out of here. I will not be spending another minute in this place I don’t have to.”

“Going to spend it with just the wife this year?” Jim questioned.

Joel shook his head. “No, her family is flying in from Connecticut. We went and visited them last year so this year it’s their turn. What about you guys? Any big plans?”

“Just spending it with my father and brother. Naomi is on a vacation.”

“Well, I hope that you solve this case quickly and get to the partying. Good luck.”

The Sentinel

Before they themselves could comfortably get to the festivities, they needed to solve this case. To do that they needed the wife to talk.

“Hello, Mrs. Suhr. I’m Detective Jim Ellison, and this is my partner, Detective Blair Sandburg. We just want to ask you a few questions about your husband’s death.”

“I want a lawyer.” She crossed her arms and sat back staring at him insistently.

“Ma’am, we haven’t charged you with anything. If you’d like to insist on a lawyer, we do have to officially charge you for the murder of your husband. Until that point, you don’t have the right to insist on anyone being here. Now, would you still like a lawyer or would you prefer to just have a conversation? At any point, you can change your mind and ask for one.”

She hesitated for a moment and then shook her head.

“No, let’s just do the questions. If you charge me, I’ll ask for one then.”

“Right first things first. When was the last time you saw your husband alive?”

“He was getting ready to go to work. He was dressing and told me that he didn’t have time for breakfast and that he needed to run. I went downstairs and he left for work. That was the last time I saw him alive.”

Jim nodded at the words, but his mind was on her heartbeat. A partial truth? That or she was an amazing liar. It was hard to tell. He wrote down a few notes and moved onto his next questions. This was going to be a long interview; he could already tell.

The Sentinel

“You do not look happy about something, man. What was up with the interview anyway?”

“There was something about her. All of her answers seemed as though they weren’t really genuine. Like they were mostly true but that they weren’t quite true.”

“Ingraining a bit of truth into your lies so that no one will be able to tell that you are lying. That’s pretty common amongst people who are accustomed to lying but not really people who aren’t. Which means…”

“That she’s accustomed to lying and more than that, accustomed to getting away with it. This whole thing seems a bit fishy if you ask me.”

“Well man, what do you think? She good for the murder?”

“Oh, she is definitely good for it. Whether or not she actually did it, is the question. Why would anyone leave the murder weapon with their jewelry? No one can be that stupid. It makes you look guilty if the cops find it. Besides that, it was covered in blood. I imagine that those aren’t cheap pieces, you risk ruining a good piece of jewelry that way. Plus, what was her motive? Simon’s right, we have too many questions still. Come on, I want to have another look at the house. We were so concerned with getting the murder weapon that I feel like we missed something.”

“Well lead on. Hey, did I ever tell you about the customs of women in the Nepalese mountains when their husbands died?”

“No, Chief, I don’t think you have.”

“Well you see, Nepalese women wear beaded bracelets. Lots of them and when they get married, they get more. It's part of their gift from their husbands. So, you know that a woman is married if she has more bracelets than younger women. It’s part of how they tell that you are a woman rather than a girl. Especially since many times, they are arranged for marriage very young. Sometimes 8 or 9.

“The husbands don’t touch the girls of course until they are both of age and willing to do so. And many times, they aren’t that many years older anyway. She goes to live in his house for a little while and they work their way up to full time. So that by the time she’s ready to consummate and conceive she doesn’t feel as though she’s been abandoned instead has gone onto another part of her life.

“So, she gets some when she is married, she gets some when she comes of age, she gets some when he consummates, and she gets some just because she wants them. Often times the husbands gift them to the wives. So, she has all of these beaded bracelets who tell who she is. Her marriage and her children and her life. However, part of their tradition is that after their husbands die their bracelets are all broken, and they no longer wear any of them. It’s how they show that they are widowed. Kind of a sad image don’t you think?”

Jim thought about it for a moment. Imagining that he was one of those women and he lost Blair. The love of his life, his partner and companion ripped from him. The anger and pain that he would feel. Then the ritual of breaking the bracelets, all of the joy, love, and life broken on the ground. Smashed into pieces and never to be made whole again.

“I think it’s a pretty good metaphor. I also imagine that it helps with the grieving process,” Jim admitted. “I mean part of grief is having to accept that they are gone. That part of your life is over. What better way that a very physical reminder that it’s over, but that a new chapter’s beginning as well. Obviously, life goes on afterward. The bracelets may be broken but the woman is not.”

Blair turned to him and smiled a bit. Jim raised an eyebrow back.

“What? I can’t say smart things too?”

“No, it's just that that is an amazing insight into the process. It was almost like something that I would say. Maybe I’m rubbing off on you a bit.”

Jim grinned at him. “Last night you were rubbing off on me a lot.”

“And you call me a dog. You, Jim Ellison, are a pervert.” The two of them grinned at each other and laughed for a few minutes. They lapsed into a companionable silence for the rest of the drive. The house was just as it had been the first time. The remaining family members moved out and the front door taped off to make sure that it remained a pristine crime scene. They let themselves in and Jim thought for a moment about something.

“Did we go through the other occupied bedrooms?”

Blair shook his head no.

“The butler’s room is in the basement and the son’s room is upstairs. Those were the only other occupied bedrooms. We already went through the victim’s room.”

Jim frowned for a minute.

“Did we? I mean we went through the wife’s room but that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t remember seeing any of his stuff in her room. Did they have separate bedrooms on the sly?”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment and then came to an agreement.

“Okay Chief, you take the ones on the right, I’ll look at the left and if we find another room that looks lived in, holler.”

Blair nodded and they split up. It was Blair that found the bedroom. It was perfectly clean in the way of guest rooms but there were a lot of clothes in the dresser and there were things in the nightstand. He called out for his partner and was joined by Jim. The man looked around the room for a minute and then closed his eyes. He made his way around, not sure what he was looking for but figuring that he’d know it when he found it.

A rogue scent caught his nose and he followed it to the closet. He opened it up and dug through one of the expensive jackets. He pulled out a small notebook and frowned at it. The scent on it was more than just different, it was completely out of place. He opened it up and began to read out loud.

“January 15th, today I began working for the Suhr family. They are the senator, his wife, and their son. Although I seemed to get along well enough with Ms. Suhr, and her son, the senator and I are beginning to have issues. He doesn’t seem to realize what exactly a butler does, and he refuses to let go of his notions. I’m not sure that this is going to work out. Only time will tell.

January 25th, I have begun to build a relationship with this family, and I have developed a great fondness for the son Erik. He is very sweet and considerate. Although it seems that his family doesn’t have enough time to properly pay any attention to him. This is unfortunate because he deserves all the love and attention in the world.

March 11th, I have discovered something terrible about this family. Erik has confided in me that his father beats him and that his mother does nothing to stop it. I wish I could help him. He’s so sweet and caring, how on earth can a man do that to his own child? I don’t know what I can do to help him.”

Jim finished reading the entry and didn’t bother to read anymore. They could go through the entire thing later. Right now, what mattered was that the butler had a motive. And he didn’t have an alibi. The two of them were horrified to think that the man had been abusing his son. No one needed to hear that. It was even worse to think that the only man who had been trying to help the kid might be guilty of murder.

“We need to take this to Simon and talk to him about it. Normally I’d suggest that we just follow the lead and see where it takes us but…”

“The press,” Blair remarked grimly.

The Sentinel

“I thought that the wife was the one that was good for it. You think what, it was a frame job?”

“Certainly, looks that way, doesn’t it? Why else would the murder weapon have been in her jewelry box? Nobody with any sense would do that. The butler had a pretty good motive. There’s a good chance if the wife goes to prison for murdering the husband that he’d get custody. Apparently, they had him appointed as a guardian for the kid at some point.”

Simon sighed and shook his head. He always hated these cases. The ones where you found yourself identifying with the murderer. If the Senator had been abusing his son, then he probably had it coming. People like that always had it coming. Simon tried to squash that particular thought but found that he couldn’t. There was something about being a father that changed your point of view. Rapists got off after targeting teenage girls, murderers walked free leaving their victims unavenged and there wasn’t enough evidence of child abuse to free the kid.

“I don’t want to arrest anyone until you have more evidence. Yes, the journal gives motive and it could be used to prove pre-meditation. Does he have an alibi?”

“No, he says that it was his day off and he’d gone for a ride out in the country to clear his head and to give him some perspective.”

“Who do you think did it?”

Jim and Blair glanced at each other for a moment, not sure how to answer that.

“I think the wife did it.”

Both Jim and Simon turned to look at Blair with raised eyebrows. He was usually the one that was reluctant to name anyone as a murderer. Preferring to let the evidence do the talking rather than formulating theories as to who could have done it.

“What makes you think that,” Simon asked. Blair gave a shrug.

“Just a feeling I suppose. There is just something very fake about her. Like those girls, you go to high school with that put on a sweet front and then turn around and tell everyone your worst secret just to hurt you. Like you shouldn’t turn your back on her because otherwise, she might plant a knife in it. I don’t know beyond that, just a feeling.”

“Well, we need more than just a feeling. Get to it gentleman.”

The Sentinel

“We could get him a nice bottle of whiskey,” Blair suggested as they walked up and down the halls of the mall peeking in shops and attempting to avoid the herds of children that seemed to be everywhere. Jim’s patience had begun to wear thin with the noise and the stimulation, but this had to be done.

“I was thinking that for Steven. Dad is supposed to be cutting back on drinking and I’m not sure if giving him alcohol is the right way to encourage that.”

“No, you’re right. Damn this is hard. What about a pie?”

Jim stopped and turned to look at him for a moment. “You want to give my father, a pie? My father? A pie?”

Blair shrugged. “Yeah, why not? Everybody loves pie and it’s edible which means you know if it's liked and it's easy for him to pretend that he did like it, if he didn’t. I give out backed goods as presents all the time. People love it. We could do one from scratch. Thoughtful and useful. What kind is his favorite?”

Jim thought for a moment and dredged up an old memory. When he was young and his mother was still there, making pies for the family. He thought of the ones that she always made. Apple Lattice Pie. The crust golden brown, the apples sweet and spicy, the lattice brushed with milk and sugar. More than that he thought of the years afterward when a slice could still bring a smile to his father’s face.

“Apple pie.” He said it softly, his mind on the better times of his childhood. Blair gave him a discerning look.

“Good or bad memories?” He asked.

“Good ones. Some of the very few we had even after my mom left. Apple pies always made him so happy.”

Blair smiled at his lover. He leaned up and kissed him lightly on the mouth. Jim smiled back and grabbed him around the waist and pulled him in for a heavier kiss. The two of them stood lip-locked for a few minutes before they broke apart.

“Come on Chief, let’s go by the grocery store. I like this idea of yours. We can bake it the night before and bring it to him during the private party.”

The Sentinel

The brought in the butler for questioning. They had charged him with murder, and he’d gotten a lawyer, but Jim didn’t need to get verbal answers for his questions. He could also always tell when someone was lying. Their heartbeats and their sweat usually gave them away. They had also had to bring the kid, Erik, in. Jim left him with Blair and made his way to the interrogation room.

“So, Mr. Scott, you have been apprised of your rights and I see that you have a lawyer present. Please note that you can revoke your request for council at any time and ask for it again at any time. I have a few questions to ask you about the night of the murder. You said that you had gone for a drive that day?”

Nathan Scott nodded after glancing at his lawyer. Jim listened carefully for his heartbeat and was surprised to hear that it wasn’t beating faster. Either he was very confident in his lie, or he actually had been driving around that day. Jim wasn’t convinced yet but if these questions continued getting the same type of answers, they might need to take another look at the wife.

Nobody was that good of a liar. He wondered how Blair was getting on with the son. He hoped that the kid would have at least a few answers to their questions.

“So, on this drive, where did you go…”

Blair handed the kid a cup of tea and a tissue. Erik sniffled a bit and rubbed his nose with the tissue. He blew lightly on the cup of tea and Blair took a seat next to him while giving him a gentle smile. Erik looked down and refused to make eye contact again. When he spoke, his words were soft and a little angry.

“There is no way that Nathan could’ve hurt my father. He’s very sweet and gentle. He would never ever do something like that. You have to believe me. He’s kind and wonderful.”

Blair sighed softly. No kid should have to go through this. “Erik sometimes when someone loves another person very much, they are willing to do things that they would never consider outside of the situation. If someone is hurting a person that they care about very much, even the gentlest of people can become the sort who do something like this.”

“You found out that my father was beating me, didn’t you?” Erik’s words were very soft and a little ashamed.

“We found it in Nathan Scott’s journal. He had written about wanting to protect you. That is part of the reason that we were questioning him. Killing your father and framing your mother would have allowed him to take complete custody of you. He would finally have been able to protect you the way that he wanted.”

Erik shook his head desperately at the words. “No, he would never have done that. He’s very sweet and kind. He’s wonderful. Besides…”

Blair looked intently at him. “Erik if there’s something that could help prove that he’s innocent you need to speak up. You could very well save his life if you speak up now. We want to be able to help you and him, but we have to know.”

“My parents were having more than marital problems. My dad wanted a divorce from my mom, and he wanted it bad. He told her that he wasn’t going to spend a single minute longer in that house than he had too. I heard them arguing about it one night. She said that if they got divorced that she would lose everything that meant something to her. The country club, the expensive jewels and the lifestyle that she wanted.” Erik looked at the ground as he spoke. His words were slightly ashamed.

Blair placed a hand carefully on his shoulder. “You did the right thing telling us about that argument. That gives a pretty solid motive for your mom. If she was the one that did it, as you believe, then we’ll find the evidence for it. Have faith in the justice system. The innocent party will walk free.” Blair clasped his shoulder firmly and looked him in the eyes. “You will make it through this. I believe in you; I believe that no matter the outcome of this investigation you’re going to be alright.”

Erik smiled weakly back at him.

The Sentinel

“So, what did you get from the questioning?” Simon took a drink of his coffee and looked at the detectives across from him.

“I had a discussion with Nathan Scott, and he was telling the truth completely. Either he is an extraordinary liar, a sociopath or he didn’t do it. His heartbeat never changed. However, his alibi can’t be checked because he was driving alone. Talking to him didn’t help a lot but I am pretty sure that he wasn’t the one to do it.”

“And what about you Blair? Did you get anything from the kid? What’s his name?”

“Erik. And yeah, I did actually. It turns out that the former senator was getting ready to divorce his wife. The kid says that he heard them arguing about it and his mom mentioning that she wasn’t willing to lose everything that she had spent so long working for. He said his dad was getting ready to go ahead on the divorce.”

“Is it a better motive than Nathan Scott’s though?” Jim asked him. Blair gave a shrug.

“I don’t know. All I know is that she had a really good motive and according to Erik, Nathan is one of the gentlest people he knows.”

“Let’s leave motive behind for a moment gentleman. A motive isn’t going to carry the whole case in court. Not with something like this. We need evidence. Now, do you have evidence supporting that either of them actually committed the murder?”

They both shook their heads. The journal may provide a motive, but it wasn’t evidence. Hell, it didn’t even mention a plan for murdering the man. Then Jim spoke up.

“The murder weapon was in Lindsey Suhr’s jewelry box. It was covered in his blood and it did have her fingerprints on it. More than that we know she had a motive. I think that it’d be easy to get a conviction just based on that and the limited number of people who had the ability to get to him.”

“Yeah, it may satisfy a jury but is it going to satisfy us?” Blair asked. “After all we are the ones who have to make the permanent arrest. This is all so complicated and ridiculous. The frame job is so obvious it is ridiculous. Whoever had the ability to plan this murder should have had the ability to do better than that. I mean, what cop on the planet wouldn’t question a wealthy, intelligent woman putting a blood-soaked murder weapon in with her own things? None, that is who. It all seems so obvious.”

Simon’s brow wrinkled for a minute as a thought crossed his mind. It was so far out there but what if it was actually true. He looked at the detectives and decided to share. Weirder stuff than this had happened to them. “What if Lindsey Suhr framed herself?”

Jim looked at him perplexed but Blair saw where he was going with this. Simon wasn’t sure if that was because he really wanted Nathan Scott to be innocent or if he thought that it might be a legitimate idea.

“She murders her husband and wants to frame the butler. So, she wants to make it look like he did it. However, she might know that with a lot of cops that they would see a frame job a million miles away.”

Jim was beginning to catch on. “So, she frames him, framing her. Puts the wire into her jewelry knowing that it will be seen as a very obvious frame attempt. Then the investigators were immediately looking for someone else to be it. Because it was such an obvious frame job.”

The three of them looked at each other in wonder. Then Simon spoke, “Gentlemen if this is true this has got to be one of the most manipulative people that any of us have ever met. This is absolutely nutty.”

The Sentinel

They may have found the motive for Mrs. Suhr to kill her husband, but they still didn’t have any evidence. With the exception of her prints on the murder weapon which could be explained away by the fact that she’d been the one to buy it. They needed something that was a little more concrete. The two of them made their way back to the crime scene to have another look around.

Blair had a thought and approached the trash cans that had been set out. They needed to have something that placed Mrs. Suhr at the crime scene. He thought for a moment and then left the Suhr’s cans and walked over to the neighbors. Jim glanced over at him in confusion.

“What are you doing, Chief?”

“We need something more to help tie Mrs. Suhr to his case. If I was a murderer and I had just murdered someone I’d want to get rid of my clothes and shoes which were bound to have splotches of blood on them. Especially if I hadn’t realized that the wire would cut rather than strangle. Most people who aren’t musicians aren’t aware that they’re pretty sharp. Especially at the right angle. If I knew that they were going to search my home and property, I’d certainly use another trash can that wasn’t mine. You go that way; I’ll go this way. Trash pickup hasn’t happened, and they should be either on top or very close to the top.”

Jim nodded and they split up. Jim focused on his sense of smell caught the scent of copper. “Chief!” He figured that he better have his guide with him before he risked zoning because he was focusing too hard. Blair jogged to him. Sending him a questioning look.

“I think I smell blood, but I need to filter out the other scents before I can figure out where exactly it is. Help me out, will you?”

Blair nodded and took a hold of his arm. He pressed his thumb on the inside of Jim’s wrist making sure that the contact was firm and obvious. Jim closed his eyes and focused, turning down his other senses and his sense of smell up. He carefully filtered out almost every scent with the exception of Blair’s masculine one and the scent of blood. He took several steps forward and then he had it.

He reopened his eyes and pulled his partner along towards a set of trash cans that were across and up the street. Blair held out a pair of gloves and handed them to Jim. Jim put them on and opened up the lid of the trashcan. He dug through for a minute and then removed a pair of blood-splattered jeans and a heavily blood-stained blouse.

“How much you want to bet that this is the husband’s blood and that her DNA is all over them?”

Blair grinned at him. “No deal, man. No deal. That’s a sucker’s deal. Besides, how much you want to bet that her fingerprints are on the trash can lid?”

The Sentinel

“So, pick her back up and bring her in. If we can get a confession to go along with the evidence, we’ll have an airtight case. That combined with the testimony from the butler about the beatings should be more than enough.”

“There’s just one problem with that Simon. She’s taken off. We can’t find her anywhere. We have put out an APB on her, but we are in the wait and see mode.” Jim took a sip out of his coffee cup.

Blair was flipping through the case file, a frown on his face.

“You got something there, chief?”

Blair looked up at him and then back down at the file. He shrugged lightly.

“I don’t know. There is something about all of this that is making me remember something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I don’t know, maybe it will come to me later.”

“Well, maybe you just need a break from work. How about the two of us go and get some lunch down at that new restaurant while we wait for them to find Mrs. Suhr.”

“Sure. Anything to get my mind off of this.”

The restaurant was one that was on the docks and served fish that were pulled fresh from the ocean. It had some of the best food that either of them had ever tasted. They had been settled in a corner booth with an amazing view of the harbor. They watched as fishing boats came in and out and birds harassed everyone that went by. Blair had decided on fresh trout cooked in butter and Jim had gone with halibut in a white wine sauce.

“I think that especially since we almost have this case solved and closed that we should go to the company party tonight. We should make the effort for your father and brother. They both might have wronged you and driven you away, but you need to be part of the solution in rebuilding the relationship. I know you hate that kind of thing, but you should try.”

“Alright if you think that it would help, we will go to the corporate party tonight. You don’t get to hide in the corner though. If I have to make small talk, then so do you. Are you ready?”

Blair nodded and Jim left the money on the table. He stood up and waited for his partner. Once Blair had gathered up his coat and was making his way out, he placed a hand on Blair’s back and guided him out of the restaurant. They were making their way back to the truck when Jim saw something out of the corner of his eye.

He turned to look and made direct eye contact with Mrs. Suhr. She must have realized that they were looking for her as she pivoted and took off down the street. Blair caught the movement as well so when Jim broke into a run, he was right there beside him. Jim pointed in one direction and Blair caught his meaning.

They split up with Jim pursuing him from behind and Blair moving in a way that would hopefully cause them to cut her off. For a few minutes, it was just a mad dash, one of the members just wanting to get away and two of them desperately wanting to keep her from getting away. Jim had been right of course. Blair had been able to take a shortcut and cut her off.

He came face to face with her and continued chasing her. However, he looked surprised when she stopped dead and turned around to look at him. He continued moving towards her, cautiously and reached for his gun. He didn’t have time to get it out though. Before he could even blink, she was charging at him. He attempted to move out of the way but wasn’t successful. She slammed into him and for a moment it looked like Blair was going to be able to stop from falling.

Splash!

That was what Jim heard and he doubled his speed. He came to the scene and was shocked. His partner was in the water desperately trying to get out and their suspect was making a break for it. He knew that he would have to pick one, save his partner or catch a killer. There was no choice for him. In a second he was kneeling down on the wood reaching out a hand to Blair.

Blair was still struggling, and the cold was making him sluggish, but he was coherent enough to get ahold of the hand. Jim hauled him out of the water and watched as he dripped all over the dock. Blair was shivering desperately.

The water was never that warm. Being so far north and their lack of sunlight made it perpetually cool. However, it was also wintertime and that meant that the normal temperature was even lower. That combined with the cold air that surrounded them endlessly, had Jim very worried.

The Sentinel

“Keep him warm for the next 24 hours. I’d suggest limiting the time outside in the cold for the next week or so. He can go outside but I’d say not for extended periods of time. This is a little overly cautious however, with his tendency for pneumonia I think we should be as cautious as possible. The two of you live together?”

“Yes, we do. And we work together if that wasn’t obvious.”

The paramedic nodded in satisfaction. “Keep an eye on his breathing and make sure he takes the medication. He should be fine. If he begins to show any of the signs of pneumonia you need to bring him into the hospital right away. However, you pulled him out and we got him warmed up fast enough, that it’s unlikely. You can take him home now.”

“Thanks. Come on Chief. Let’s get you home and into the warm loft. Don’t need you catching your death out here.” He pulled his partner to his feet and guided him to the truck. He wished he had had the thought to warm the truck up beforehand but he hadn’t so they would just have to wait. The drive back to the loft was quiet and Jim could see out of the corner of his eye that his partner was dozing.

Jim walked his partner into the building and hit the button for the elevator, praying that it would work. He was rewarded with the light ding of the elevator and the doors sliding open. It made it all the way to the top and opened so that was something.

Jim walked his partner into the loft and immediately settled him onto the couch. He draped a blanket over him and then went to fetch the ones that lived on Blair’s bed. After he had piled his partner high with blankets and was sure he was comfortable he went over to the answering machine.

“Hot tubs for only 99.99.” Delete

“You have a dentist appt.” Take a note of it and then delete it.

“Hey, Blair, its Eli. I wanted to know if you could teach this semester. Just call me back.” Skip over.

“Hey son, it’s your dad. I just wanted to call and see if you and Blair were going to be able to make the party tonight. Not a big deal if you can’t, just need to know. Ring me when you get home.”

Jim sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. He had completely forgotten about the party. What was he supposed to tell his father?

“You should go without me.”

Jim turned around to look at his partner who had managed to get his head above the mound of blankets on top of him. The look he gave Blair clearly conveyed that he thought that Blair had lost his ever-loving mind.

“There’s not a chance in hell, that I’m going to a party, I don’t even want to attend, leaving my injured possibly sick partner who nearly drowned an _hour_ ago, home alone. The fact you even think that I would consider that shows me that you’re sicker than either of us think and you need to have someone here to look after you. Now, I’m going to call my father, explain to him what happened, and you are not going to say another insane thing. Clear?”

Blair sighed and nodded but didn’t protest. He’d known it was a long shot, but he figured at the very least he had to try. Hopefully, William wouldn’t mind what had happened. He knew the man had really been hoping that Jim and Blair would be able to attend the party. Jim dialed his father’s home number and waited for a moment.

“Jimmy! I’ve been waiting for a phone call from you. What time do you think that you’re going to get here?”

Jim sighed and decided to go for direct. “Blair got pushed into the harbor and almost drowned.”

“Oh my God, is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s alright. I have him parked on the couch. Paramedics said that we shouldn’t spend too much time in the cold and that he needs to stay warm for the next 24 hours. I’d say that we could come for a few hours but…”

“No, no. You guys need to stay home. You don’t want to stack a party full of old stuffy bastards on top of almost drowning in the harbor. I’ll come over after the party to check on you guys. Alright? Best of both worlds.”

“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that. What time do you think you’ll be over? I can have something warm to drink for you when you’re here. Coffee, or tea or something.”

“I’d say about 11. Some coffee wouldn’t go amiss.”

“Coffee it is. I’ll see you around 11. Goodbye.”

“Bye Jimmy.”

The Sentinel

Blair was dozing on the couch around the time there was a knock on the door. Jim got up and opened it, then he stepped aside to let his father into the house. Once the door was closed and locked, he turned around and amicably shook his father’s hand.

“Come on in. Blair’s basically asleep on the couch but he won’t mind being woken up. The coffee should only be a few more minutes.”

His father nodded and made his way to the small sitting area. When he sat down Blair opened his eyes and gazed blearily at him. William gave him an uncomfortable half-smile and waited for Jim to come back. Jim entered the room carrying a tray with a pot of coffee and three mugs on it. Blair sat up the rest of the way and moved over for Jim.

The three of them made conversation for a few minutes. Discussing today’s incident and the missed party. What was going on in all of their lives and just generally catching up. William made sure to extract a promise that they were going to be at the family Christmas party. He also made sure to find out when they were going to be over. It was nearly midnight when they called it a night and Blair hadn’t been able to stop his yawning for several minutes. They said their goodbyes and William went on his way.

The Sentinel

The holidays were desperately closing in on them. They only had a week until Christmas day and that meant they only had 5 days until the party with William and Steven. Although they had plenty of evidence against the wife, the courts refused to assign custody of Erik to Nathan Scott, until she was charged with a crime. It was understandable, they didn’t want to give away custody unless something has actually been done wrong.

Despite that, it was very frustrating. Nathan really wanted to have Erik with him and until Lindsey Suhr was caught, it wasn’t going to happen. That put them on an even greater time crunch to get her picked up and brought into the station. It would be horrible to have Erik’s custody up in the air for Christmas. Making a horrible situation even worse.

The day after the harbor incident Jim and Blair had both gone into work. Blair was on light duty until after Christmas was over and that meant so was Jim. Originally Jim hadn’t wanted to come in at all but Blair’s argument about being just as warm at the station as he was at home was very convincing.

That meant the two of them were catching up on the paperwork they were desperately behind in. The worst part of being a cop was the fact that they worked for the government and which meant that they had a lot of red tape and regulations. It was going to be an easy day for the two of them. That was until they dragged Lindsey Suhr in kicking and screaming.

Literally.

They were going to be able to charge her with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer right off the bat. That meant they could formally charge her and hold her. They didn’t have to worry about getting a confession out of her in the next two days. That was good as Simon was still pushing for a confession.

The majority of their evidence was circumstantial or could be explained away. A confession though, even if it was recanted, wouldn’t be quite so easy to explain away. People rarely confessed to things they hadn’t done when they weren’t under extreme duress.

“Stay here chief, I’ll go and interview her. It shouldn’t be too hard to get a confession out of her considering how worked up she is.”

Blair gave him a glower. “There is not a chance in hell that I am sitting this one out. I was the one who talked to Erik. I was the one who had to listen to him admit he was being beaten by his father and his mother had done nothing to stop it. I was the one who promised him he would be able to go home with Nathan Scott. I’m not sitting this one out. No matter how much of an invalid you think I am right now.”

Jim gave a put-upon sigh and gestured for him to come with him. He knew their work meant a lot to Blair, but Jim often forgot how much more serious he took it now. Before he had just been a consultant/observer. He had been invested the way any civilian whose job it wasn’t, would be. If a little more because of how closely he worked on the cases.

Now though, it seemed that getting a badge had changed things. Taking the oath meant Blair saw his responsibility very clearly and was going to uphold it no matter what. Jim opened the door to the interrogation room and allowed his partner to step in first. He followed after him holding a folder in his hands.

“Alright, Mrs. Suhr. If you don’t remember me, I am Detective Jim Ellison, and this is my partner Blair Sandburg. The arresting officer said you have asked for a lawyer and I see you have one excellent. Your name misses?”

“Adrianne Precel. My client isn’t under any obligation to tell you, anything detectives.”

Jim nodded and took a seat. Blair joined him at the small table in the interrogation room.

“It is true she doesn’t have to say anything. What she does have to do is listen to what we have to say. First off, you are going to jail. You have assaulted two police officers and resisted arrest. That alone is more than enough to charge you, and we have.”

It was at this point that Blair joined in the conversation. “That means it doesn’t really matter whether or not you tell us what happened the night your husband died.”

The lawyer glowered at them. “A few years of probation is nothing compared to first-degree murder.”

Jim chuckled. “No, it is not. That’s why we are here. You’ve probably already guessed we don’t have enough to make the charges of murder one stick. That’s why we want your client to confess. If we have that, we can cut a deal for manslaughter. That way she has less jail time.”

“No point. I can get her off. You don’t have enough evidence to convict.”

Jim shrugged good-naturedly. “That is where you are wrong Ms. Precel. You see we have the murder weapon found in her jewelry box, with her fingerprints on it. She had ample opportunity to do it. She had plenty of motive. We know she had the means; it was with her jewelry.”

“That can all be explained away. It’ll never work.”

“I would love how you plan to explain her clothes covered in his blood, dumped in a trash can.”

Both Blair and Jim could see the color drain from Lindsey Suhr’s face. It was this moment where Blair began to explain how it had happened.

“You waited for him to come home after a few drinks. You poured him another one and he finished it and set the glass down. At this point, he was so hammered a child could’ve killed him. You took the string you had pulled off of his guitar and slipped it around his throat. You thought it would just strangle him, but that wasn’t what happened, was it? That’s why the entire crime scene felt off. Nobody would slice the throat of a man someplace where his body could be found easily if they were trying to conceal the murder or get away with it. Especially when there were other people living in the house. It had to be a type of murder gone wrong, like strangulation.

“It didn’t strangle him though, did it? It sliced into his neck catching the arteries and blood sprayed everywhere. You hadn’t thought that would happen and hadn’t prepared your clothing or the location for it. So, you quickly changed clothing. Then you needed to get rid of the clothing. You knew your entire house would be searched so you threw it away in the trash can up the street. That way it wouldn’t even be in your dumpster. You couldn’t do anything about the body. It was already where it was, but you figured you could work with it. However, you had forgotten the wire you had used to kill him.”

Jim took up the narrative, seeing that his partner was becoming upset over the next part of the story. “You knew that your butler was doing his best to protect your son. You knew he knew your husband was beating your son and you figured you could make it look like he was the guilty one. More than that, you thought you could make it look like he was framing you. After all, who would be stupid enough to put the murder weapon with their own jewelry?

“Then there was the detail that was bothering me. Nathan Scott’s journal was in your husband’s closet. I knew something was off, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. The detail that pointed us in his direction is your downfall. Why would he have his private journal in his closet? That meant nothing to your husband, it was just private thoughts. It was everything to you though. The detail that would make us think it was Nathan Scott.”

“It also would explain the location of the body. If Nathan Scott was attempting to frame you, he would want the body to be found. More than that, he would want it to be found as soon as possible. It gave a perfect explanation. It was almost the perfect plan as the signs you were the one that had done it would be ignored by us thinking you were being framed. They would all be dismissed away. Anything and everything that could possibly connect you. Gone. And you would get away with it.”

“The worst part of it is you didn’t even do it for the right reason. You knew he was beating your son. You knew he made Erik’s life miserable. You didn’t care. Nature really missed out on the maternal instinct with you. All that had happened to Erik, that he had suffered through. That never even mattered to you. As long as he wasn’t laying hands on you why did it matter? All you cared about was your husband was going to divorce you and leave you with nothing. Take away the life you needed so desperately, enough to put up with a man like him.”

Lindsey Suhr’s cheeks turned red and they could see her temper ignite. “Of course, I didn’t care for that little bastard. He ruined my figure and tied me to that son of a bitch. Before that, I could have divorced him and taken half. But after he came along, I knew I would never be able to keep custody or get half of what I was owed. I was happy his father beat him. I made sure he would never bother me for anything once he was of age. Yeah, I murdered that asshole!”

“Lindsey! Don’t say anything!”

“Oh, shut up Adrianne. I killed him. I gave that man the best years of my life. He was the one that wanted a son, not me. He was the one that insisted it had to be biological and not adopted. Do you have any idea how badly having that bastard ruined my figure? I was gorgeous and then he just had to have a son. I hate both of them so much. The worst part of it all was he had changed his will. Son of a bitch that he was. He left it all to that pathetic child, leaving me with nothing. After all, I had given him. It was a lose-lose situation. So, I wanted him to lose right along with me.

“So yeah I murdered my husband and yeah I tried to frame Nathan. I figured I could kill three birds with one stone. I could get rid of my asshole husband, get all of his money for myself and ruin my bastard son’s life. After all, if his precious butler was in prison, he wouldn’t have a damn person that cared about him. So yeah, I did it. I killed him and I don’t regret it. In fact, it was the best thing I have ever done. I only wish I had had the sense to do it earlier.”

The Sentinel

“First off, Sandburg, should you even be here? You fell into the water a day ago. That combined with your tendency to get pneumonia from stepping into a puddle or the wind being too cold…”

“I’m fine, Simon. I’m a little under the weather but that’s all. Do you really think that Jim would allow me out of the house if he thought I was going to keel over dead the minute he looked away?”

“No, that’d never happen,” Simon conceded, “you’d never make it off the couch. Although honestly if he thought it was a problem, he wouldn’t let you leave the hospital until he was one hundred percent sure.”

“The two of you realize I’m right here, right? Still in the room. Jeeze, you act like I’m some kind of overprotective mother hen.”

“You said it Jim, not me.”

“Back to the point gentleman, tell me what Mrs. Suhr said,” Simon’s words were gruff.

“Alright, we got her to confess although I am pretty sure her lawyer is going to get her to give a retraction.” Jim glanced at the notes he had taken. “We pushed for her to write it down, but the damn lawyer wouldn’t let us. I’m pretty sure it will stick though. Even if she does rescind the confession. More than that, I think that when they go to court it will be easy to rile her up into another one.”

“That’s good. What are you going to do about the kid?”

Blair was the one that spoke up this time. “I looked into it. Apparently, at some point, they had been out of the country for so long they needed to appoint a guardian. As Nathan Scott worked for them and had taken care of Erik, they decided it would be him. I spoke to a friend of mine over at social services. She said there doesn’t need to be an evaluation because he is already listed as a guardian. Erik can just go straight to Nathan Scott now we have arrested Lindsey. All we have to do is tell the two of them he can go home.”

“Looks like the two of you have things well in hand. Now you just need to tell the kid he can go home with the butler and then wrap up this case. Oh, and Sandburg? Make sure you are getting lots of rest and keeping yourself warm. Wouldn’t want that cough getting worse.”

Blair gave a groan and the two of them left Simon’s office.

“I thought I had covered it up well. Is it really that noticeable?

“Only to the people that spend all their time around you Chief. Nobody else.”

The Sentinel

Blair had spent hours hunting for the perfect pie recipe. There were so many variations. He was having trouble discovering the one he thought would fit the best. As it turns out everyone had their own take on it. He had finally settled on an old classic.

He had gone with the Better Homes and Gardens version. One that involved making a double crust from scratch and doing the apples himself. He mostly used it to get the ratios right. He had taken the double crust recipe and tweaked it a bit. Instead of shortening though he used butter. All of the comments online from chefs said that only butter would achieve the flaky crust everyone wanted for their pies.

Then he had tracked down a woman whose specialty was apple pies. He had inquired as to how to make the right filling for apple pies. She had talked about using raw apple instead of stewed. She mentioned that although the stewed apples would give that melt in the mouth texture, they would kill the crispness of the apple.

She said to pick the tartest apples he could get his hands on and use them in the pie. Once he had done the shopping and research, he had called in Jim to help with the actual pie baking.

“Alright what do we do first?”

“The first thing we want to do is prep. The apples need to be peeled and the pie crust needs to be made first. Have you ever made a crust before?”

“No. you?”

“Nope!” Blair said cheerfully. “But I can give it a try. We can always start over if we mess it up. We have all day to work on this. You do the apples; I will do the pie crust. You need to peel and slice the apples. They need to be about ¼ inch thick so that they will cook properly. Alright?”

Jim nodded and they each set to their individual tasks. Blair hadn’t made a from-scratch pie crust before, but he had done bread. Many of the concepts were the same between them. Things such as cutting the butter into the flour and the kneading of the dough. Although rolling it into a circle for half and creating the lattice from the other half was the problem. Dough you kind of let do its own thing and whatever shape it was, was the shape it was.

Although he doubted that William would care if it was perfectly made (he would either hate it or love it) Blair still wanted it to at least look appetizing. Which is why he was so nervous about the construction. It should at least look like an adult did it rather than a child.

The first part went fine. He managed to get the dough the right consistency and he was able to get it divided up into two parts well enough. The next part was a little trickier. Blair needed to get it rolled to where it was big enough to cover the pie shell but thick enough that it wouldn’t tear when he laid it out or put the filling in.

“You should roll that out onto a tea towel. That way you can fold it into fourths using the tea towel and then use the towel to transfer it to the pie dish. That’s what my mom used to do. It makes it much easier and much less likely to tear. Also, the dough doesn’t stick to the towel as badly as the counter. You don’t usually have to flour it which will keep it from having too much flour.”

Blair stared at him for a moment. A surprised look on his face. Jim gave a slightly self-conscious shrug.

“Turns out I remember more than I thought I did about the baking.”

Blair broke out into a grin. He patted him lightly on the back and went to get one of the flour sack tea towels he kept on hand to dry dishes. They were lint-free which meant that they wouldn’t aggravate Jim’s senses to be used for lots of things. They also could be handled by him even when his sense of touch was acting up.

He laid out the towel and then transferred half of the dough to it. He pulled out a rolling pin and in quick movements began to roll in out flatter. He worked both side to side and top to bottom, sometimes going diagonally to try and make it as even as possible. When he was finished it was a bit lopsided, but it was big enough to cover the tin and thick enough to not tear.

Using Jim’s method, he folded in fourths and then moved it over to the tin. It stuck a little to the towel but not nearly as much as it would have a counter. Then he carefully molded it to the tin. Once he was finished with that bit, he looked back at it in satisfaction. It was far from perfect, but it actually looked pretty good considering that it was his first time.

He turned to Jim who had finished his apple peeling and slicing. Jim was watching with an intent look on his face. Blair cocked his head to one side and then Jim was on him. Pressing him into the counter and kissing him hard.

“You are so sexy like this you know that?”

Blair giggled for a minute. “Yeah, I know. We can’t do anything about it now though. We have to finish this pie. We don’t want it to go off while we aren’t looking do, we?”

Jim gave a sigh but stepped back. Blair pulled out the last ingredients and emptied them into the bowl. Then Jim took the apple slices and made sure that they were coated evenly on both sides and dumped the whole bowl into the prepared pie crust.

“Alright, I’ll get a ruler,” Jim said heading out of the kitchen in search of one.

“Why? Why would we need a ruler?”

Jim shot him a look. “To make the lattice. That way it will be even.”

“I was just planning on cutting them up, so they looked good enough.”

“But then they might all be different sizes.”

“Yeah, they would but your father would know it was actually homemade, rather than store-bought. Want it to be at least a little awkward and lopsided and the lattice is honestly probably the only thing he is going to notice. Might as well make it so he is well aware of what it is.”

Jim hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with that prospect. He looked at where they kept the rulers and then he looked at his partner. Blair looked back at him and then his brow furrowed in thought.

“Why don’t we talk it out? Let’s see if we can parse out what is making you so uncomfortable about making the lattice, so it isn’t even. Right now, what are your feelings about making the lattice different sizes?”

Jim thought for a moment and then he said, “I feel nervous. Like something isn’t quite right with it that way.”

Blair nodded. “So, it isn’t a control thing. Otherwise, you would feel agitated. I am going to go out on a limb here Jim and suggest the reason you’re feeling anxious is that this is a present for your father. This is going to be presented to someone who always had very exacting standards for you. To give him something that is not only less than perfect but is also below your skill level incites an uncontrollable response in you. That, in turn, makes you feel anxious. Although I don’t think you are going to like it, I think we should go with the lopsided lattice.”

“Why though? I don’t want to feel like this, and wouldn’t it be better to give him the better version anyway?”

“Well subjectively, yes, it would. However, I feel that this would not only go a long way towards your own feelings towards imperfections, but the symbolism might have a profound impact on your relationship with your father.”

Jim heaved a sigh but left the rules where they were and went to his partner. “Alright, let's finish this pie so we can be done with this. Although we still have to give it to him. What are you going to do if he hates it?”

“Ignore him. People give each other gifts they hate all the time. It's part of being American. One bad gift isn’t going to destroy your relationship. Besides, this is something I feel could have a great impact on you. Even if it doesn’t have such a great one on him.”

“Alright, Chief. What’s next?”

The Sentinel

“You alright Blair?” Jim asked his partner looking at the weariness on his face.

“Yeah, just tired. This was an exhausting case. I’m glad that it is over, and we can be done with it.”

“Well, look on the bright side, you get to go in there and tell that kid he gets to stay with the parental figure that cares for him. That they get to have Christmas together without worrying about anything else.”

A small smile stole over Blair’s face. “Yeah, that’s true. That part’s pretty great.” Then he sighed lightly, and his breath caught. He coughed roughly for a moment and then took a deep breath. More than stopping the cough it exacerbated it. Gave it fuel. One minute he was fine, the next he was bent double hacking, desperately trying to get air into his lungs. Jim was there beside him with a hand on his back rubbing soothingly.

Blair continued to cough viciously for a few more minutes and then he finally caught his breath. He took several deep ones to help account for the lost breath and then sat upright. He rubbed a hand over his face exasperation.

“Are you alright, Chief? That sounded pretty vicious. Maybe you should go and see the doctor again. You know how prone you are to pneumonia. I don’t want you to get it again.”

“I’m fine. It's just a cold. You know how these things get into my lungs and don’t want to leave. I’ll be alright. Don’t worry about it.”

“If you’re sure. However, if I feel it is getting worse, then you and I will be making a trip to the doctor. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you. When did they say they were going to be here?”

“1 pm. So, it should only be a few more minutes, hopefully. You figured out how you want to tell him yet?”

Blair shrugged lightly. “Not yet. I am hoping that whatever comes out is coherent.”

“Well you won’t have to wait for very long, there they are.” Jim pointed to where he could see the social worker and Erik were coming towards the coffee shop. Erik shot them a nervous smile when he saw them. He and the social worker sat down and looked at them.

“So, how did the case turn out? Where am I staying?”

“It was your mother that did it. We have a confession from her so she will probably be convicted. However, because Nathan was listed as a guardian in case of emergencies and that is what they had put into both of their will’s, you get to stay with him.”

Both Blair and Jim could see the moment of pure relief that he felt at those words. He stood up and hugged both of them desperately.

“Thank you so much! You have no idea how much it means to me that I can go home with him. Thank you!”

Blair and Jim both smiled at him in fondness.

“No need to thanks us. You can do that just by going home and spending Christmas with your family, where you belong.” Blair patted him lightly on the shoulder.

“Alright, detectives, I think we should be going. I want to make sure he gets settled in before evening,” the social worker herded the young man out the door.

“Well Chief, I think we should be going as well, after all, we have to prepare for my dad’s tonight.”

“Sure Jim. I wanted to finish wrapping those last few things anyway.”

The Sentinel

The two of them say for a moment in the truck looking up at the house in front of them. Jim was thinking about the past. About the Christmases and birthdays that had been made miserable by being a part of that family. He thought about what it had meant to finally be away from it all.

Blair, on the other hand, was thinking about the future. About all of the memories that could be made if they just made their way into the house. Each of them sat alone in their silent contemplations until Jim spoke.

“Well, should we go in and face the firing squad?”

Blair smacked him on the arm. “Yes, we should. Besides, we went through all the effort of getting these gifts, we should at least hand them off.”

The two of them made their way into the large house and into the large bottom floor sitting room where everyone was gathered. William and Steven looked up and smiled when they saw them. The children had very obviously already opened their gifts as their attention never wavered.

“Why don’t you guys go upstairs to play with your gifts while the grown-ups open the boring grown-up gifts?” Steven asked them. The two of them gathered up their new toys and took off out of the sitting room and up the stairs. Blair and Jim settled down on a sofa a little way away from William and Steven.

“I’m really glad that you both could make it. I’m also glad that you’re looking much better Blair. I was concerned that you would catch something after that tumble into the water.”

Blair smiled lightly. “As much as my immune system would’ve wanted to get pneumonia, I didn’t. I got lucky this time I suppose. Although I do have a really nasty cough that has your son going all caveman on me. He won’t leave me alone. I see you guys already did the kid’s gifts. Want to do ours?”

Blair ignored Jim’s glare. He knew he was right, and that Jim hated being called out on his mother-hen instincts. Especially to his father and his brother.

“Yeah, we were just waiting on the two of you. Where should we start?” Steven’s question was accompanied by a look around at each of them. All four of them glanced for a minute before Blair took charge. His family might not have been big, but they had known how to do holidays.

“How about we start with William and we will each give our gift to him. Then we will go to you Steven, then Jim and then finally me. That way we can judge each other for the gifts we bought all at once.”

Jim shot him an amused look and the three men shrugged. That was as good a plan as any. Steven held out his gift to his father first. William took it carefully and opened the perfectly wrapped present. Inside of it was an exquisite pen. Hand-carved out of rare wood. William gently picked it up.

“Steven, it's beautiful. Where on earth did you get it?”

“I found this company from a friend out in Wyoming. This man is a blind veteran who carves these pens by hand out of rare woods. He’s brilliant and each of them is perfectly unique. I figured since you have been looking for a pen to replace the one you lost that you might like one of these.”

“Oh, Steven I do. It’s a wonderful gift.”

The three of them gave him a moment to put away the pen and then he turned to look at Jim and Blair.

“Our gift is from both of us. Here.” Blair handed William the box and William opened it. Inside the wrapping was a Tupperware dish. William’s forehead wrinkled as he opened the Tupperware and had a look inside. He gasped slightly as he caught sight of what it was.

“I figured since this is the first year we are spending together since we were kids that I should bring back an old memory. For once, it isn’t a bad memory. It is one that is genuinely quite happy. So, Blair and I baked you an apple pie with a lattice top. We hope you like it.”

William was absolutely stunned beyond words. His hands hovered over the treat and he swallowed several times. Then he looked up at the two of them. During this, a few thoughts were running through his mind. Things such as how touching it was Jim had remembered. That they had gone to the effort together to make the pie.

That and the imperfections. The lattice were all relatively the same size but not really. William wasn’t a stupid man. He knew exactly what it was the pie represented.

“You have no idea how much it means to me that the two of you were willing to give me a try. That you were willing to work with me again. That you would try and be a part of my life. I wasn’t certain that you really meant it, that you weren’t just faking it. But this gives me the assurance that I was looking for. More than that it shows that we can remember the past but move on with the future. That we can have a future. This means the world to me. Thank you both so much.”

Steven, Jim, and Blair all discretely ignored as he wiped a tear from his cheek. They decided it’d be a good idea to move onto the next gifts and allow him a few moments to recover.

Steven had received an expensive leather paper sorter that he could take with him to work from William. Jim had remembered Steven complaining about not having anything classier than the cheap folders to put his paperwork in when he went to meetings. So, he had told his father as an idea for a present. It was engraved with his name and genuinely stunning.

Steven, of course, had received the nice bottle of scotch from Blair and Jim. Although it wasn’t quite as personalized as the gift, they had given William, it was his favorite kind and 50-year-old scotch. More than that it was to help ease the pain of his recent divorce. Not by drinking, although that might help some. But to remind Steven every time he had a glass that he still had a family. More than that he still had family that wanted to be a part of his life.

“Alright, Blair, Jim, the two of us decided that we would get you a gift together. One that is for both of you. Here it is.” Stephen handed over a small silver box with nervousness. He had no idea how it was going to go over. Blair held it gently and untied the blue bow on it. He opened up the box and gaped when he saw what was inside it.

“Steven, William, they’re beautiful. They’re stunning. These had to have cost a fortune.”

Blair handed the box over to his partner so that he could get a good look at them as well. Inside the box were two metal bracelets. Slim, strong and beautiful, each of them was engraved. One of them read “My heart is kept by Blair Sandburg” and the other read “My soul resides with Jim Ellison”.

“They’re designed to be worn under long sleeves and they’re made of titanium so that you can wear them on the job without worrying about them being broken. They go with what I feel the two of you were attempting to do with the pie. They are meant to show you that although I’m late to the party, I accept you Jim, and you Blair, for who you are. And I approve of the relationship. That even though you aren’t perfect the way I would have wanted several years ago, I still want you in my life. More than that, that the way you are now Jim, is perfect for me.” William’s words fell on almost deaf ears as the two of them stared at the gift in wonder. Almost being the keyword. Jim was able to hear every word.

“Dad, Steven, these are amazing. I can’t believe how wonderful this gift was. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much these mean to us. You have no idea what it means either, to hear you say that. After all the years of fights over flaws. The way that we departed. How long we went without speaking to each other. This is everything to me and I am don’t even have the words to express it.”

The Sentinel

“You have the best ideas; you know that Blair?”

The man in question beamed up at his lover, a little tipsy on the alcoholic eggnog and more than a little drunk on the Christmas spirit. That combined with the exhaustion from the past few harrowing days had him giddy. Although Jim wasn’t going to be the one to complain.

“That is because I know how to do holidays correctly. Unlike you lot. You would all just be hopelessly avoiding each other and hoping things would get better without me.”

“And so humble too.”

“Mmm,” Blair said. “Come over here and kiss me like you love me. I’ve been waiting all night to get you underneath the mistletoe and now that I have you, I’m not going to let you go.”

Jim leaned down and kissed him soundly on the lips. They remained there for a moment and then they broke apart and smiled. Jim ran his hand through Blair's thick curly hair and settled it on his cheek lightly. Blair reached up and clasped it gently. In the low light of the evening, there was a barely discernable glint of titanium.

“Who says that I’m ever going to let you go?”

Fin

**Author's Note:**

> Comment or Kudos if you liked it.


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